Williamspoint Photos Du Jour: Question Of The Day

QUESTION: What do you call a municipal government (and the people who elected it) when a year’s worth of rent on a two bedroom apartment in north Brooklyn meets— if not exceeds— the median incomefor family of four?

ANSWER: A disgrace.

Although quite a fuss has been raised over the glut of “luxury” apartments in my community (and the high vacancy rates which have come as a result), no one seems to have noticed the visible increase in homelessness that has come with it. Among the “benefits” Greenpoint was promised as a result of the new zoning were park space and affordable housing. As of April 22, 2009 we have received neither. Instead we have been saddled with a colossal number of empty lots, vacant properties and half-finished “nondos” while more people and more people are finding themselves on the streets.

Don’t blame the developers (no matter how bad some of them are). Blame our civil servants. They are the ones who enabled this. Many of them may profess otherwise but their actions prove they hold anyone who doesn’t have $400,000+ laying around to buy a condo (in other words a fair number of their own constituents) in contempt.

Rebecca11222 on
Thu, 23rd Apr 2009 5:13 pm

I’m furious and disgusted. I see more and more people (especially the elderly) collecting bottles and cans in order to make ends meet. Last summer there was a “tent city” in McCarren Park. I bet there will be more than one up this year.

Re: “development:” just around the corner from me is a borded-up dirt pile. It used to be a borded- up giant hole. The “developer” (who ousted tenants and demolished the initial building) now can’t afford to build the luxury 3-story building he intended. He intends to turn the property into a parking lot.

mikki on
Thu, 23rd Apr 2009 7:03 pm

It’s a fucking disgrace indeed. I’m on the West Coast now, where the homeless population is so much more visible, and it is making me think more about what we can do. You are really right to look at this in terms of resources, development, and abandonment.

I think the NAG housing forum this weekend will be a great place to discuss this over the weekend, if folks are going. Details on the blog–http://www.nag-brooklyn.org/blog/2009/04/neighborhood-housing-forum-to-highlight.html

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